If the State forgets its reason for existence then it needs to be, and will be, challenged.

I am not
a nationalist. I am not even patriotic about this state created national
identity. I refuse to be an unquestioning loyal servant of our political form. I
am not wowed by the symbols of the State. I certainly don’t enjoy watching the Republic
Day parade where every type of killing machine is on grand display. I don’t
believe that the death sentence should be awarded even to terrorists. Yet, I
will say that I belong to this land and have an equal right to its embrace and
no one, and I mean absolutely no one, including the highest courts can take
that away from me. That sense of belonging is in me and will live until the day
I pass on. But I will not have someone demanding my love, my salute, my tribute
for his notion of India.

So, who
am I and where do I belong?

Right to question

In the
last few weeks we have seen the deadliest venom spewed on students who have
expressed a different idea of their land and its purpose. Beyond the legal
arguments, we have seen rank hatred being hurled and that needs challenging. We
must ask: What is the nature of the love that is being demanded from all those
who hold that white voter identity card or blue passport? Is it love at all, or
just a selfish protectionism, violent assertion, an unthinking stone-walling of
those who question the very foundation of our political construct? But is it
not just this kind of discourse that allows for a revaluation, even rejection
of “what is”? We are told that these questioning people are negative, bringing
disgrace to our country, contributing nothing to nation building. Where does
the blueprint for this building come from? It evolves from difficult,
uncomfortable, disturbing questions raised by voices of varied textures and
tones. I, for one, certainly believe, that we cannot move ahead without their
words questioning the meaning in our sentences. This is openness to receiving
without anger, inhibition or confrontation.

Let us
also not reduce this to Voltaire’s cliché on freedom of expression. This is a
deeper, subtler enquiry into the nature of belonging to a nation. We need to go
beyond the right to speech and explore the thoughts behind expression. Born
from this is also humility towards what we believe as being sacrosanct and
essential. There will be very many pitches, each providing for a different
insight. And unless we make an attempt to receive everyone, we are
lifeless.

Creating the ‘other’

Why are
we unable to listen to voices without being reactionist? What are we so scared
about? I am baffled. The students in Hyderabad Central University and Jawaharlal
Nehru University did not at any point take up arms and attack anyone. They did
not demand the killing of any human being or the destruction of any natural
assets, yet we want them removed. But the corporates and conglomerates of the
world are allowed to strip our land with state sanction and displace people. And
religious bullies continue to spread hate among people.

Where did
this madness for national pride come from? By drawing dotted lines around us
and separating us from the rest we have all been forced to assert an identity
of pride, pride itself being an imbalanced emotion. The students at Hyderabad
and JNU are not anti-national – whatever that may mean – but let us suppose,
for the sake of argument that they are, I don’t see a problem. They are not
anti-people, anti-life, anti-nature, anti-love, anti-compassion or
anti-welfare. We need to seriously ask ourselves what we are looking for in our
co-inhabitants. Isn’t an inhuman nationalist worse than an empathetic
anti-national? Take one look at many of those who today drum their loyalty to
the Indian nation and you will see a religiously sectarian, casteist,
male-chauvinist who cares little for the poor and marginalised. Any active
involvement of theirs in social upliftment comes from the position of charity
or a misuse of that for advancing their own divisiveness.

What keeps us safe?

Let us
love our land, not romanticise the nation state as the insider-outsider
dichotomy built into the latter’s DNA. This separation operates as much within
its borders as it does beyond. It is to the credit of our founders that they
recognised this problem and tried their very best to address its structural
complexity. But the debate continues and should. Our Constitution has given us
some remarkable things. But there is nothing absolute or final about a document
that allows amendments to keep it abreast of the times, of life!

Political
parties have only worsened the situation by twisting people’s ideas into party
positions. The BJP, Congress and the rest are incapable of seeing anything
beyond their own noses but will use every opportunity to create confusion,
manipulate minds and weaken the quality of the debate that normal people want.
It is also true, that we live in a society where few are willing to listen to
political questions that emanate beyond party outfits.

The other
dimension that has been added to this shouting and counter-screaming is pitting
the sacrifice made by the armed forces against questions being asked by
students. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and actors like Mohanlal have unfortunately used
the death of soldiers to trivialise dissent. Their sacrifices can never be
forgotten or diminished, yet I am wearied by the argument that we sleep safe at
night only because someone patrols our borders, for truth that it is, it is not
the whole truth. Sleep settles over us at night because someone called the
Indian peasant is growing our cereals, someone called the line engineer and
manual scavenger is keeping our water and drainage pipes going, someone is
handling the dangerous chemicals that make our paints safe, someone cleans our
streets of all the garbage we patriots keep heaping on them, someone is
fighting for the rights of the downtrodden and because our teachers share
generously and policemen and policewomen guard our roads selflessly. And, let
us not forget, we find rapture in the morning and repose at night because
someone called an artist sings or dances for our happiness. Every member of
society helps us sleep safely and happily and no one can be placed on a lower
or higher pedestal. There is also another side to any country’s fighting
machine that we cannot glorify. That which keeps us safe, threatens others,
does it not? I refuse to sanctify the bomb-dropping jet and the flame-throwing
tank.

Humanity above all

I belong
to this land because of the air, fragrance, earth, sounds, languages, music,
dance, drama, rituals, cuisine, unsaid words, smiles, quirks, jokes, habits,
battles, inequalities and sharing that make me who and what I am. All this
exists beyond the state. This is my land, my people and my life. My “here” is
not bound by the homogenising tag that makes for an Indian citizen – whether of
the ordinary native, or OCI or NRI variety. My land is fluid not static, constantly
self-renewing, self-defining, leaving me free to sing any song. There is no
question that the state has facilitated my living, but the state itself comes
from the experiences that I have described above and therefore it cannot take
away who I am. The state is not a privilege gifted to us, it is built on the
understanding, questioning and framing of what already exists. If the state
forgets its reason for existence then it needs to be, and will be, challenged.

Tagore,
who gave us our national anthem, also said:

“I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds. I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live.”

The right machine can save water, power consumption, time, energy and your clothes from damage.

In 2010, Han Rosling, a Swedish statistician, convinced a room full of people that the washing machine was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution. In the TED talk delivered by him, he illuminates how the washing machine freed women from doing hours of labour intensive laundry, giving them the time to read books and eventually join the labour force. Rosling’s argument rings true even today as it is difficult to deny the significance of the washing machine in our everyday lives.

For many households, buying a washing machine is a sizable investment. Oddly, buyers underestimate the importance of the decision-making process while buying one and don’t research the purchase as much as they would for a television or refrigerator. Most buyers limit their buying criteria to type, size and price of the washing machine.

Visible technological advancements can be seen all around us, making it fair to expect a lot more from household appliances, especially washing machines. Here are a few features to expect and look out for before investing in a washing machine:

Cover your basics

Do you wash your towels every day? How frequently do you do your laundry? Are you okay with a bit of manual intervention during the wash cycle? These questions will help filter the basic type of washing machine you need. The semi-automatics require manual intervention to move clothes from the washing tub to the drying tub and are priced lower than a fully-automatic. A fully-automatic comes in two types: front load and top load. Front loading machines use less water by rotating the inner drum and using gravity to move the clothes through water.

Simple steps to get the best from your washing machineSimple steps to get the best from your washing machineSimple steps to get the best from your washing machine

Size matters

The size or the capacity of the machine is directly proportional to the consumption of electricity. The right machine capacity depends on the daily requirement of the household. For instance, for couples or individuals, a 6kg capacity would be adequate whereas a family of four might need an 8 kg or bigger capacity for their laundry needs. This is an important factor to consider since the wrong decision can consume an unnecessary amount of electricity.

Machine intelligence that helps save time

In situations when time works against you and your laundry, features of a well-designed washing machine can come to rescue. There are programmes for urgent laundry needs that provide clean laundry in a super quick 15 to 30 minutes’ cycle; a time delay feature that can assist you to start the laundry at a desired time etc. Many of these features dispel the notion that longer wash cycles mean cleaner clothes. In fact, some washing machines come with pre-activated wash cycles that offer shortest wash cycles across all programmes without compromising on cleanliness.

The green quotient

Despite the conveniences washing machines offer, many of them also consume a substantial amount of electricity and water. By paying close attention to performance features, it’s possible to find washing machines that use less water and energy. For example, there are machines which can adjust the levels of water used based on the size of the load. The reduced water usage, in turn, helps reduce the usage of electricity. Further, machines that promise a silent, no-vibration wash don’t just reduce noise – they are also more efficient as they are designed to work with less friction, thus reducing the energy consumed.

Customisable washing modes

Crushed dresses, out-of-shape shirts and shrunken sweaters are stuff of laundry nightmares. Most of us would rather take out the time to hand wash our expensive items of clothing rather than trusting the washing machine. To get the dirt out of clothes, washing machines use speed to first agitate the clothes and spin the water out of them, a process that takes a toll on the fabric. Fortunately, advanced machines come equipped with washing modes that control speed and water temperature depending on the fabric. While jeans and towels can endure a high-speed tumble and spin action, delicate fabrics like silk need a gentler wash at low speeds. Some machines also have a monsoon mode. This is an India specific mode that gives clothes a hot rinse and spin to reduce drying time during monsoons. A super clean mode will use hot water to clean the clothes deeply.

Washing machines have come a long way, from a wooden drum powered by motor to high-tech machines that come equipped with automatic washing modes. Bosch washing machines include all the above-mentioned features and provide damage free laundry in an energy efficient way. With 32 different washing modes, Bosch washing machines can create custom wash cycles for different types of laundry, be it lightly soiled linens, or stained woollens. The ActiveWater feature in Bosch washing machines senses the laundry load and optimises the usage of water and electricity. Its EcoSilentDrive motor draws energy from a permanent magnet, thereby saving energy and giving a silent wash. The fear of expensive clothes being wringed to shapelessness in a washing machine is a common one. The video below explains how Bosch’s unique VarioDrumTM technology achieves damage free laundry.